GM Mike Hazen Speaks About Family, Moreno, and More

The D-backs architect of the 2023 roster that has seen them reach the NLCS for the first time since 2007 is General Manager Mike Hazen. Hazen came to the D-backs from the Boston Red Sox in 2016 and just received a fresh five-year contract extension to go along with it a couple of weeks ago. This team has seen it all under Hazen's leadership from reaching the postseason in his first year to a disastrous 2021 season that saw them nearly set a franchise record for losses. Now the youthful team is battling for a National League Championship and potentially a World Series ring. Hazen spoke with the media on Sunday ahead of the important Game One matchup between the Philadelphia Phillies and the D-backs Monday night in Philadelphia.

Hazen worked with current Phillies President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski when both of them worked for the Red Sox. Hazen spoke on that and said "he rarely misses when he goes and acquires big game players" and that Dombrowski is always looking to win now and "not taking a season for granted and pushing into your team even when things aren't going great." Plus, Hazen thinks that Dombrowski is "one of the best executives in all of baseball for a reason...he does a really good job."

Everyone has heard of the Tommy Pham incident when he slapped Joc Pederson over a fantasy football situation, but that isn't who Pham is at all. Pham is a hard working baseball player that brings out the best in everyone according to many reports. Hazen agrees with that and said "what you got back [from outside players and staff members] didn't align with what you may have seen publicly. We were told how hard he worked, how obsessed he was with being good in his practice every day...We have a good young group of guys that do that so we felt like that was going to be a really good match, and it has been a great match."

Bryson Stott and Corbin Carroll were both taken in the first round of the 2019 MLB Draft. Stott went 14th overall to the Phillies while Carroll went 16th to the Diamondbacks. As it turns out, Hazen and his staff were on Bryson Stott too. He said "We were on Bryson very early. We loved the way he played the game. We had Corbin a little ahead of him, but I know they were neck and neck, and we were hoping one of them was going to get to us at the time when it happened." Well, it's a good thing Carroll made it to them at the 16th overall pick.

Ahead of Game Three of the NLDS at home, Hazen's four sons threw out the first pitch to honor his late wife and their late mother, Nicole, who passed away from brain cancer in 2022. Hazen touched on what it was like to see his four boys throw the first pitch and just how meaningful it was.

"Incredible, incredible. You know, we were such a baseball family, like the Diamondbacks meant so much to her. The Red Sox before that, the Indians before that. And it wasn't necessarily because of baseball. It was because of how much it meant to me and to our kids. So to watch them sort of have that moment, you know, where the one thing that Nicole said to me as she was dying was she didn't want to be forgotten. We can all understand that feeling. Time moves on. Everybody knows what happens. She didn't want to be forgotten. That moment gave us another opportunity to talk about her, and what I'm most appreciative is when Ken and Derrick asked if that would be okay. That's what I'm most appreciative of is we got another chance to talk about her."

Hazen also spoke on the team being so incredibly close and how that has helped them make a run in the playoffs that very few thought was possible. He touched on the fact that many of these players came up through the minor leagues together and have a special connection.

"I think a lot of them have come up together. We have some experience with that in other places of watching some of the kids come up together,develop together.I think it means a lot. I do. I think it matters. I think in the moments in the postseason when the anxiety rachets up,when everything matters a little bit more, I think the trust around and playing for and with the people that you love in your clubhouse, I do. I don't know. I can't objectively prove that, but it feels that way. This is a very close clubhouse, and it's an enjoyable team to be around. Not just because they're good people, but they work so hard, they're passionate about this. The guys like Tommy and Longo and C. Walk, it's a good group of guys to be able to feel good about the success that they're having."

Hazen touched on the Gabriel Moreno and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. trade in the offseason that could be the trade of the year as without those two players, there is very little chance that the D-backs would be in the position they are right now. While GM Mike Hazen believes that the trade is "still a win for both sides" thanks to Varsho's elite defense and power. He admits that Gurriel Jr. and Moreno has had fantastic seasons and that "would we be here without them? No."

Once the D-backs lost Carson Kelly to injury in Spring Training, he said "I don't know where we would we have been standing from a catching standpoint" if they didn't have Moreno plus "Gabi has done a really good job shutting down the running game. I think with the new rules, that became a big deal for us being able to shut down the running game."

The D-backs will look to Gabriel Moreno, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., and Corbin Carroll to lead their team over Bryson Stott and the Phillies in Game One this evening at 5:07 p.m. local AZ time in the NLCS.